Four years after it was put on ice, ITV’s risky reality competition Dancing On Ice returns for a new series this week, with a major facelift that ITV hopes will get viewers gliding in. 

This Morning’s Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield will return as hosts, but elsewhere there’s change – Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean are also back, but as judges rather than trainers. 

Holly and Phillip explain what’s in store.

How much convincing did you need to come back to the new Dancing On Ice?

Holly: None, really. I definitely wanted to come back. Even when I wasn’t on the show [Christine Lampard co-hosted with Phillip from 2012-14], I watched it and loved it.

When I first started doing the show, I wasn’t married and I didn’t have kids, and I now realise the importance of this show.

We [Holly and her husband Dan Baldwin] watch telly with the kids – we’re obsessed with Strictly – and this is exactly the sort of show we’ll be watching.  

Phillip: People are so excited it’s coming back. It’s amazing how people who you haven’t heard from for ages are getting in touch going, “Any tickets?” I think, “Funny, I haven’t heard from you for five years.”

Holly: I’ve had the same thing. 

Why do you think celebrities sign up for Dancing On Ice, given how dangerous it is?

Holly: I have no idea! I mean, I get that it is the most beautiful skill to learn, but it is so dangerous, there is no doubt about it. I hope that with things like the headbanger [a dangerous lift], it looks a lot worse than it is when you’re doing it.  

Phillip: But people have banged their heads. It is b****y dangerous – we’ve had cuts, we’ve had breaks, we’ve had nasty falls… 

Holly: I’ll have to watch it with my eyes shut. 

Phillip: You’re worse now than you were back then. 

Holly: I’m scared of everything now. I think it’s just getting older and being a mum – I’m just terrified of everything. 

Would you ever skate on TV? 

Phillip: I did skate in the last-ever show of the old series. I learned a routine, came out and was terribly proud of myself, and then watched it back and thought, “Oh no, I’m going so slowly!” It feels a lot faster than it looks on the telly.

My feeling is, if you’re going to do it, you want to do it really, really well. So, no, we’re not skating.

Holly: Couldn’t they just carry us on? Or we could come on in a sleigh.

Have you heard whispers about which celebrities are standing out? 

Holly: Kem Cetinay and Cheryl Baker are fearless – Cheryl’s injured herself before doing a similar show [2003’s Drop The Celebrity] and has come back to do this, so that shows her grit and determination. 

Phillip: We reckon that Donna Air is going to be elegant. 

Holly: Antony Cotton is sharing an ice rink with another celebrity and he’s already started saying, “I’m better than them.” I won’t say who it is. 

Who have been your all-time favourite contestants?

Holly: Ray Quinn [in 2009], because he was just phenomenal, and Suzanne Shaw [2014] – when she flew, she was like Tinkerbell. That was magical. 

Phillip: Jennifer Ellison [2012], whose flexibility got the better of her – she caught the back of her head with her ice skate. That was an awful moment. 

Holly: Remember David Seaman dropping one of the professionals? They did the headbanger and he dropped her right in front of me. I was at the side with rollers in my hair during rehearsal, so that got on YouTube. Never mind the skater’s pain – I’ve got rollers in my hair! The shame. 

You host This Morning every week day and now you’re working together on Saturday night. Don’t you get sick of each other?

Holly: You’d think so, but when we get a holiday we go away together as well! We both go to places in Portugal and meet up with our families for dinner. 

Phillip: We’ve never had a single cross word, ever. We’ve never fallen out or even disagreed. It’s like I’m working with my younger sister. That’s lovely.

Holly: We wouldn’t be working together this much if we didn’t get along so well. It’s our sense of humour and we’re cut from the same cloth – our morals and priorities are pretty in line with each other.

We’ve started to say the same things, too! It just happens on air. 

Phillip: Yeah, get out of my head!